CANADA JAY 7 



Plumages. — I have seen no very young Canada jays; all that I have 

 seen in life, or in collections, have been fully grown and in full juvenal 

 plumage. This has been very well described by Dr. Dwight (19CX)) as 

 follows : 



Everywhere broviTiish slate-gray, darker on the crown, paler on the abdomen 

 and crissum. The feathers are lighter basally and faintly tipped with brown pro- 

 ducing an obscurely mottled effect. Lores, region of eye and forehead dull black. 

 Malar region whitish with a dull white spot anteriorly. Wings dull clove-brown 

 with plumbeous edgings on secondaries and inner primaries, all the remiges 

 tipped with grayish white, the greater coverts with smoke-gray. Tail slate-gray 

 tipped with brownish white. 



Young birds in this plumage are so unlike" adults, that Swainson and 

 Richardson (1831) considered them to be another species. As the 

 Canada jay breeds very early in the season, it also begins to molt early 

 in the summer. Young birds begin their postjuvenal molt in July, and 

 some have nearly finished molting their contour plumage before the end 

 of that month, though this molt often continues up to the middle or end 

 of August, or even later. I have collected young birds in Labrador in 

 full juvenal plumage as late as August 9. This molt includes all the 

 body plumage, but not the wings and tail, which are retained until the 

 next postnuptial molt. At this molt old and young become practically 

 indistinguishable in first winter plumage, though the forehead in the 

 young bird is usually somewhat tinged with brownish and the back is 

 darker and more brownish than in the adult. Adults have a complete 

 postnuptial molt beginning early in July, which is generally completed 

 in August. 



Food. — The Canada jay is almost omnivorous ; it has been said that 

 the "camp robber" will eat anything from soap to plug tobacco, for it will, 

 at least, steal and carry off such unsavory morsels ; some Indians have 

 said: "Him eat moccasins, fur cap, matches, anytink" (Bendire, 1895). 

 About camps the "whisky jack" is an errant thief; it will eat any kind 

 of meat, fish, or food left unprotected, will carry off what it cannot eat, 

 and will damage or utterly ruin what is left. It will even enter the tent 

 or cabin in search of food, prying into every open utensil, box, or can. 

 It comes to the camper's table at mealtime and will grab what food it can 

 with the utmost boldness, even seizing morsels from the plates or the 

 frying pan. It shares the hunter's or the fisherman's lunch at noontime, 

 confidently alighting on his knee or hand. It steals the bait from the 

 trapper's traps, sometimes before his back is turned ; and it often damages 

 the trapped animal. 



William Brewster (1937) wrote in his journal: 



After the leaves fell, they were met with chiefly about openings, pastures, etc.. 



